Utah trip and my new obsession.....

You've seen this first picture before, but I had to include it again. I should have gotten one of just the boys, oh well! We had soooo much fun on our Utah trip. It was 5 1/2 days of laughter, rest, skiing, more rest, and lots more laughter!

The girls:

Hollee, Shara, Laurie, and me

Here's Rick and Shara,

Russell and Laurie,

Jeremy and Kendra,

and the "Unabomber" (AKA-Sam) with Hollee!

Because I only skiied one day, I had some time to kill while everyone else did ski. One day I decided to go to Olympic Park where the 2002 winter Olympics were held.

The entrance...

Inside the museum....

There were tons of medals, videos, uniforms, and lots of memorabilia of that Olympics inside.

It was sooooo small compared to what I thought it would look like. This was at the bottom of the nordic jump ramps. There were actual teams practicing on the 90 m ramp the day I was there.....Team Australia.

This is the view from the top of the 120 m ramp. I got to go up there because I paid $7 for a guided tour....again, I was alone and had nothing else better to do.....
FYI: If you look at the above picture, imagine that you are a participant in the Olympics. If you were sitting right there and looking out, you'd see a crowd of over 20,000 people. I couldn't imagine that many people crowded in that small of an area. They had to bring in a grand stand to fit all the people. (There is your random winter Olympic tid-bit of knowledge for the day. If you'd like more, ask. I can tell you things like "Utah Olympic Park was completed in 1997 and that the luge is far more dangerous than the skeleton, even though you go head first when competing in the skeleton....." I'm full of useless knowledge now.)





Here is where my obsession begins.... (a little background story)

When we were touring Olympic Park the Junior National Luge competition was going on. We got to sit in curve 12 for a few minutes and watch some of the 13 year old competitors do this sport. I was slightly facinated at how fast they were going and it looked like fun to go down hill that fast. Then we got up to the spot where they start the bobsled races. After explaining that event, our tour guide told us that we could actually ride in a bobsled for $200. Hello, dream come true! The person that drives the bobsled is the coach for the Jamaican bobsled team. I saw Cool Runnings, sign me up! Unfortunately, I was there alone and didn't know if Jeremy would "approve" of my 50 second ride that cost $200. In the end, I waited too long to call that afternoon and they were booked up. They don't do bobsled rides every day of the week, so I was back in Texas before the chance to ride again. I vow to get there again one day and ride the stinkin' bobsled! (It's only $60 in the summer, so I'm going to try to go to Utah in July!)


A sweet view from the top of a mountain one day!

Another great view:

This is the scenery out the living room window in the house we stayed in.

The boys enjoyed the game room in the house complete with pool table, poker table, eliptical machine.....

....and ping pong. Don't ask me why Sam's pants aren't pulled up.....

And I'll end this with a picture of my cute kid who has finally decided that sitting up can be fun too. He can do it, he just gets a little lazy! Here he is, pictured with a new favorite toy, his drum. I don't know if it's just him or if it is boys in general, but he really likes to beat the crap out of stuff. He will bang on anything in front of him!

(let me know if you read all my random facts in there.....this was a long post!)